CNN’s POLITICAL GUT CHECK | for July 21, 2014 | 5 p.m.
— n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

OBAMA TO REBELS: WHAT ARE YOU HIDING? Obama called on Russia to rein in rebel fighters in Ukraine believed by many international leaders to be responsible for downing Malaysia Air Flight 17. He said Russia has failed to stop them from impeding investigators and accused rebels of treating remains poorly and removing evidence. "What exactly are they trying to hide?" he said. Obama said Russia must exert its "enormous influence" over the rebels. "It's the least they can do," he said. – Michael Pearson, Faith Karimi and Phil Black

SECURITY COUNCIL WEIGHS IN ON MH 17 CRASH ... The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution demanding international access to the eastern Ukraine crash site. The vote was 15-0.Follow @GutCheckCNNFollow @sarafischerUKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: THIS IS NO DIFFERENT THAN 9/11 …Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, speaking to CNN's Christiane Amanpour, pleaded for international solidarity against the rebels fighting the government in Kiev. "I don't see any differences" between 9/11, the Lockerbie bombing and the attack on Flight 17, Poroshenko said. Such terrorism is a danger to the "whole world" and to "global security," he said.

CNN POLL: MOST AMERICANS SAY RUSSIA BEARS SOME BLAME … Most Americans say Russia is directly or indirectly responsible for the downing of MH17, according to a new poll that also showed unfavorable views of Russia up sharply. A CNN/ORC International survey conducted Friday through Sunday indicated that 78% percent of those questioned say they have an unfavorable opinion of Russia, a surge of 23 percentage points since February. Fifty-six percent said it is very likely rebels shot down the plane and just over a third said Moscow is directly responsible for the disaster. Another 51% say Russia's indirectly responsible.

PERRY SENDING 1,000 NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS TO BORDER …Texas Gov. Rick Perry will immediately send up to 1,000 National Guard troops to help secure the southern border, where tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors from Central America have crossed into the United States this year in a surge that is deemed a humanitarian crisis. "I will not stand idly by," Perry said in Austin Monday. "The price of inaction is too high." Perry's state has received the majority of migrant children, especially in the Rio Grande region, and he has repeatedly called on the federal government to beef up border security.

INSIDE POLITICS: GOP MEGA-DONOR MULLS A BIG 2014 PLAY …Leading GOP sources focused on 2014 Senate races say a hefty boost is being contemplated by GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas casino mogul. One of the sources involved said it could be as much as $100 million. – John King

BILL CLINTON: WITH BOOK TOUR DONE, HILLARY THINKS THINGS OVER …In an interview with CNN in Vietnam, Bill Clinton thinks his wife "really does need some time to think through” her 2016 decision. "We've reached a point in our life when we think you really shouldn't run for office if you don't have a clear idea of what you can do and a unique contribution you can make and you can outline that," Clinton told CNN's Anna Coren. "Now that the book is done, she wants time to think about that and work through it." – Dan Merica

TONIGHT: SOCIAL WATCH … #ASKHILLARY:Hillary Clinton will visit Twitter headquarters today in California. The event will be streamed on her Twitter handle @HillaryClinton at 8:20 p.m. ET. People can submit questions to Clinton using the #AskHillary hashtag.

Dan Merica ‏(@danmericaCNN)
A @twitter rep says Clinton was invited to visit HQ because she has used the site "in an inspiring, impactful way" for about a year.

TOMORROW: GOP NOD TO BE DECIDED IN GEORGIA RACE…This one's ugly, and personal. Voters cast ballots Tuesday in Georgia's Republican Senate primary runoff, after weeks of the two candidates sharpening their attacks on each other. The battle is between Rep. Jack Kingston and businessman David Perdue, with the winner facing off against Democrat Michelle Nunn in November's general election. National Democrats see the race as only one of two Senate contests this year where they hope to go on offense.- Paul Steinhauser

THE BUZZ: GERMAN SOCCER PLAYERS PARTY SO HARD THEY BREAK WORLD CUP TROPHY … FIFA might want to consider changing the plating material of the World Cup trophy to something a little less malleable than gold. It turns out, the trophy is easily breakable. At least in the hands of the German national team, which won the coveted orb in an overtime victory against Argentina earlier this month. The team chipped a “small piece” off the golden award while celebrating with it, Wolfgang Niersbach, head of Germany’s DFB soccer federation, told Der Spiegel (via Bloomberg). – Washington Post’s Marissa Payne

MARKET WATCH: U.S. stocks retreat on concerns about Ukraine and Gaza, but rebound from their lows. Dow ends down 47 points.

TRAIL TRIVIA(Answer Below)
Who was the first woman elected to serve in both chambers of Congress?

Leading Deseret News: August kickoff expected for 'Draft Mitt' effort
Utah's State Republican Party Chairman James Evans said the effort to draft former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney into running again in 2016 should be ready for a national launch in August. – Lisa Riley Roche

Leading HuffPo:'Delusional': Graham Lashes Out At Kerry, Obama
Sen. Lindsey Graham expressed his qualms with the Obama administration's approach to foreign policy during a "Meet the Press" interview on Sunday, calling Secretary of State John Kerry's foreign policy analysis "delusional." – Ashley Alman

Leading Drudge:It’s On!
President Barack Obama’s response to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine reflects the consensus of U.S. officials that time, evidence, and world opinion are increasingly on his side as he takes on Russian President Vladimir Putin. – Bloomberg’s Terry Atlas and Jonathan Allen

Leading Politico: Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise: Parallel paths to leadership
Their parallel rise began in the late 1990s, when Kevin McCarthy, the national chairman of the Young Republicans, became good pals with Steve Scalise, a local leader in Louisiana. It continued in 2008 when McCarthy, now a congressman, flew to Louisiana for Scalise’s swearing-in to the state Senate. Scalise treated him to a tour of the state Capitol, and later that year, McCarthy was the biggest national figure to endorse Scalise for Congress — and cut him a check. Eric Cantor followed suit — at McCarthy’s behest. – Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan

Leading New York Times: Obama to Report Widening of Initiative for Black and Latino Boys
President Obama will announce on Monday that 60 of the nation’s largest school districts are joining his initiative to improve the educational futures of young African-American and Hispanic boys, beginning in preschool and extending through high school graduation. – Motoko Rich

HOT SOTSThe political bites of the day

–White House: Israel needs to take ‘greater steps’ to ensure innocent lives aren’t taken –CNN’S JIM ACOSTA AT THE WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING: “It seems, just judging by your last statement, that the U.S. would like to see the Israelis take greater steps – that the U.S. believes that the Israelis have gone a little overboard in this tunnel operation. Is that a fair assessment?”WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN JOSH EARNEST TO ACOSTA: “What I would say is that the Israelis have the right to defend themselves. And they have taken steps to do exactly that. We have seen their population subjected to repeated volleys of rocket fire. What distinguishes the Hamas actions from Israeli actions is that Hamas is squarely targeting their rocket fire at innocent Israeli civilians. The Israeli military, on the other hand, does have standards for trying to protect the life of innocent civilians, even innocent Palestinian civilians. What we would like to see, however, is we would like Israel to take greater steps to ensure that they are living up to those standards. So, that is the clearest enunciation I can provide of our view of the situation.”

- Clinton: Peace is impossible until Hamas renounces violence -BILL CLINTON IN AN INTERVIEW WITH CNN: “There is no way the Israelis are going to give up the West Bank and agree to a state unless Hamas agrees to give up violence and recognizes Israel's right to exist … They won't do it so that's a non-starter and I think it should be. You can't just have a one-way peace. Both sides have got to give up what the other side most objects to."

- Rogers on Ukraine crisis: ‘We should’ve been there already’– HOUSE INTEL CHAIRMAN MIKE ROGERS ON CNN’S ‘NEW DAY’: “I hope this is the catalyst that gets us more involved in supporting the Ukrainian government to push back on Putin’s Ukrainian disaster. In order to do that we have to rally our European friends. Those relationships been frayed bet us and Europe. They need to be repaired immediately so we can have a unified front on sanctions in Ukraine.We can do that by leading the way on these intelligence packages, training packages. We should have had investigators on the ground with our European friends to help them in this investigation. … We should have been there already.”

- Ukraine tensions prompt Cold War fears in lawmakers - CNN’S CANDY CROWLEY ON ‘STATE OF THE UNION’: Do you believe that U.S. and Russian relations are now at Cold War levels?SENATE INTEL COMMITTEE CHAIR DIANNE FEINSTEIN: "Yes."CROWLEY: Is U.S. security is under any threat because of the situation in eastern Ukraine?HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE CHAIR MICHAEL MCCAUL: "Oh, I mean, sure it is … And I think this is a game changer, what happened, the downing of this commercial flight by separatists tied to Putin. I think Putin is responsible and complicit for what happened."

- Rubio: Small government can help solve payment gap -SEN. MARCO RUBIO IN AN INTERVIEW WITH NPR: “At its core, conservatism is not an anti-government movement, and it's not a no-government movement. … The conservative movement is about government playing its important yet limited role, and about not falling into the trap of believing that every problem has an exclusive government answer for it.”

TOP TWEETSWhat stopped us in 140 characters or less

Chris Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo)
If u see pics of #malaysian delegation for #mh17 sitting at bar in #ukraine, they are accurate. A bad image.

Daniel Nisman (‏@DannyNis)
As in previous tunnel attacks, Hamas fighters this morning wore IDF uniforms to the last detail, forcing forces to verify before engaging

Greg Sargent (‏@ThePlumLineGS)
Finally: GOP rolls out its long-promised plan to show the party cares about poverty and inequality: http://poorhillaryclinton.com

Sam Youngman (@samyoungman)
"If he asks me, I'll play with him." @SenRandPaul when asked about playing golf with potus.

Niki Tsongas ‏(@nikiinthehouse)
Today Ryan Pitts, originally of Lowell, receives the Medal of Honor @WhiteHouse. His story is incredible & humbling. http://1.usa.gov/1uYuxLo

TRIVIA ANSWER from @sarafischer

Margaret Chase Smithwas the first woman elected to both the House and Senate. Smith, R-Maine, served a total of 32 years in Congress, 8 years in the House and 24 years in the Senate.

GUT CHECK WINNER’S CIRCLE(Why aren’t you in it?)

Congrats to David Daniel (@CNNLADavid) Steve Liguori (@SteveL3877) G-Lav (@grant_laverty) for being the first to correctly answer today’s Gut Check trivia question. Hats off to all of our winners today who answered correctly.

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